The Stopped Show
The Stopped Show is the twelfth and final episode of Season 5 of ''BoJack Horseman'','' and the 60th episode of the show overall. It premiered with the rest of Season 5 on September 14, 2018. Synopsis In the midst of the latest PR crisis, Princess Carolyn gets a life-changing opportunity. With Diane's help, BoJack finally faces the music. Plot The episode begins at Todd's office at ''WhatTimeIsItRightNow.com. Todd is angry with Flip and Princess Carolyn for stopping production on Philbert, due to, as they put it, someone (Gina) getting "a little strangled," which some crew members filmed and might leak to the press. Todd wants to pull the plug on production to "cut losses." However, after Flip and Princess Carolyn protest, he reluctantly agrees to give them one more chance to fix things. Princess Carolyn calls BoJack, who is in a hungover state, and does not remember what happened in the previous episode at all—not even what he did to Gina, to not watch TV, go on the internet, or take any phone calls until she gets to his house. She then calls Stuart to draft an e-mail to Biscuits Braxby to set up an interview, but she puts him on hold when she gets a surprise call from Sadie, who is in the hospital in labor. Sadie asks Princess Carolyn how fast she can get to Eden, because her boyfriend left her, her mom stole her truck, and she wants to give her the baby. A flustered Princess Carolyn tells Sadie, it's all happening so fast, and she'll have to call her back. However, Sadie warns her if she isn't here by the time the baby is born, she's giving it to someone else. Mr. Peanutbutter goes to visit Diane, wanting to talk about how they had sex [[Head in the Clouds|after the Philbert premier]]. He feels guilty about cheating on Pickles, he hasn't told her yet, and tells Diane he was hoping she could break the news to Pickles—because he's not good at giving bad news and she is. Diane refuses to do this, saying it isn't right that his ex-wife should explain to his girlfriend, that he cheated on her with his ex-wife. She says she felt really shitty after he left that night, but when Mr. Peanutbutter assumes he made her feel that way, she rants about how she always feels like garbage. Mr. Peanutbutter explains this is the first time he’s ever felt that way, and doesn’t know how to handle it—to which Diane retorts back that he should feel that way, the two then get up in each other's faces as they argue, before making out and beginning to have sex again. While sitting down with him on his deck, Princess Carolyn learns BoJack has no memory of what happened the previous night. Princess Carolyn explains that Gina got injured, footage of it got leaked, and some people may have the impression that he was trying to hurt Gina. She set up an interview for him and Gina with Biscuits Braxby to convince Biscuits, and everyone else, they were just doing their job as actors—nothing more, and nothing less. She then apologizes to BoJack for the show getting messy, and not looking out for him enough, but BoJack assures her that he understands she has a lot on her plate. Princess Carolyn assures herself everything will be more settled once she gets her baby. After Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane have finished up having sex, as they get dressed Mr. Peanutbutter says he'll talk to Pickles, and tell her he and Diane are getting back together. However, Diane tells him she doesn't want to get back together with him, even though he pleads that he still loves her. In his trailer, Princess Carolyn introduces BoJack to Biscuits Braxby, the interviewer. She goes over the game plan with BoJack on how the interview will go down. After she leaves, BoJack begs Princess Carolyn to let him see the video of the incident, so that he knows what he's talking about. She reluctantly does, and BoJack learns that he nearly strangled Gina to death while high on pills. At Sandro's Place, Stefani tells Diane that GirlCroosh is leaning towards video and that they want her to be the face of the company. Diane declines, claiming she’s a hypocrite and can't be a trusted news source or role model for anyone. Stefani tells her that Diane holds herself to an impossible standard, which is great for writing takedowns for the site, but toxic for her social life and self-esteem—that she has to learn how to forgive. On the Philbert set, as she is getting things ready for the interview, Princess Carolyn gets bombarded by Stuart, who brought along Tracy from the adoption agency, as she was in Princess Carolyn’s office and wanted to talk to her. Tracy asks her why she isn't in North Carolina getting her baby, and Princess Carolyn assures her that she needs to handle the PR problem first, and afterward, she'll catch the first plane to North Carolina. Tracy then tells her if she's too busy for a child, she won't give it the attention it deserves—revealing her own mother worked all the time, making her feel all alone. She never met her dad or twin brother, because their parents separated when they were babies, leaving her with half of a gold medallion. Stuart interrupts her saying "her story is boring, and who hasn't been separated from their twin and still wears their half of a medallion." He then reveals he wears the matching half to Tracy's medallion, but they don't catch on. Tracy tells Princess Carolyn that her point is not every woman is meant to be a mom, and maybe she should just live her life. Princess Carolyn starts freaking out, and orders Tracy to leave as the interview is about to start. BoJack arrives on set and notices Gina already sitting down. He greets her and says she looks good, but Gina blankly says the makeup covers up the bruises, and she just wants to get the interview done. BoJack tells Gina he's going to come clean about everything. Gina angrily demands he doesn't—he assaulted her, and if there was any justice he'd be in jail, but her career is finally taking off, and she doesn't want to be known as "the girl that got strangled by BoJack Horseman." She'll be amicable and professional towards him on set, but other than that she doesn't want anything to do with him. Biscuits arrives and they begin the interview, where BoJack and Gina lie about the incident and even have to pretend to still be dating. After the interview, Gina angrily leaves the room. A female employee at WhatTimeIsItRightNow is called to come into Henry Fondle's office. She takes no offense to his usual sexual phrases, but when he begins to say phrases like "insufficient power," as he is losing battery power, and "sleep mode," she believes she is being discriminated against and harassed. This leads to multiple allegations of sexual harassment against Henry Fondle, which is seen being discussed on MSNBSea. As a result, Henry Fondle is put on an indefinite paid leave, and WhatTimeIsItRightNow is forced to scale back, refocusing itself as a website that tells you what time it is, which leads to most of its employees getting fired, and Philbert getting canceled. At her office, after she and Flip hear the news, Princess Carolyn says "It's all over...." Flip anxiously says that they just need to find the show a new home. However, when he turns around, Princess Carolyn is gone. However, he wonders if he was "Princess Carolyn the whole time." He goes in her purse, pulls out her lipstick and smears it on his mouth, and in a high pitched voice imitating hers exclaims "Oh fish!" Todd and Henry Fondle are walking out of WhatTimeIsItRightNow.com,'' when another executive offers Henry a job, despite him just getting fired for sexual allegations—the executive says that just means he's learned his lesson and ready to start over. Todd tells Henry Fondle he wants to show him something. BoJack goes to visit Diane, asking her to write one of her take-downs about him, but to leave Gina out of it. Diane refuses, saying she's done writing about or for him. BoJack pleads that the world needs to know he’s a bad guy, but she tells him ''"There's no such thing as "bad guys" or "good guys! We're all just guys who do good stuff sometimes and bad stuff sometimes. And all we can do is try to do less bad stuff and more good stuff, but you're never going to be good. Because you're not bad. So, you need to stop using that as an excuse." BoJack wants to be held accountable, but Diane sternly tells him that no one is going to do that for'' him, and he has to take responsibility for himself. BoJack, frustrated, says he doesn't know how to do that—as he goes in his coat pocket and pours more pain killers into his hand. He pauses and looks at them solemnly, in a moment of realization. Todd takes Henry Fondle out to a field with a lone tree on it, telling him this is his special thinking spot. As Henry Fondle continues to say lewd sexual phrases, one of them being "''I love it when you call me father," Todd "kills" Henry by electrocuting him with a taser. As he "dies," Henry Fondle's phrases distort into "I love you, father." ''Todd, with a sense of relief now that all of this is over, removes his suit to reveal he had his normal clothes under it the whole time and walks off. Princess Carolyn is holding her new baby, a porcupine girl. Sadie asks her what she’s gonna name her, and a love-struck Princess Carolyn replies "''Untitled Princess Carolyn Project." Sadie replies, "But not really, right?" Diane is seen driving with BoJack, who is holding a duffel bag, and asks her if his cactus will be OK for six weeks. She assures him it’ll be fine. BoJack asks her if this is a mistake, and she simply replies no. She turns into the entrance of Pastiches Malibu Rehabilitation Center. At Elefante, Mr. Peanutbutter tells Pickles he needs to talk to her, which upsets her, but she assures him whatever happens, she won’t stop loving him. Mr. Peanutbutter tries to tell her the truth about him cheating on her with Diane, but instead, he proposes to her. BoJack and Diane stand in the parking lot of the rehab center, smoking. BoJack asks her what he should say when he enters, and she suggests "Hello. I am BoJack. Horseman, obviously. You've probably heard of me, I'm very famous. So sober me up, please!" BoJack wonders what will happen if he gets sober but he's still the same shitty person he's always been. Diane tells him rehab isn't immediately going to make him a good person, which gives BoJack second thoughts, but she says he can “''either go to rehab and do it their way or go home and do it his way like he's been doing for his whole life.” BoJack doesn't understand why she's being so nice to him, after everything she's learned about him, and everything he's put her through. Diane tells him the story, of how her best friend Abby abandoned her in high school, for the popular girls and made her life miserable. Abby's mom got really sick one summer, so while her popular friends went on vacation, Diane stayed with her. Diane explains, ''"I hated her, and I will never forgive her, but she needed me and she was my best friend and I loved her." She tells BoJack that he's here, and she hates him, but he's her best friend—and he needs her. BoJack inhales and then he begins to walk to the rehab center. Diane asks if he knows what he's going to say. He tells her he's going to say "Hello. I am BoJack Horseman. Obviously, you know who I am, because I'm very famous, and also we called ahead. And I am here because...I need help." Diane watches him walk away, takes another drag of her cigarette. She then looks sad, and then smiles, as she waves goodbye to BoJack as he enters the rehab center. Her smile disappears, and she puts out her cigarette. She gets in her car and sighs. She drives away as the sun sets, and enters a tunnel, as the episode ends. Trivia * The song that plays when Diane drives back to L.A. is Under The Pressure by The War On Drugs *BoJack checks into rehab. *Princess Carolyn adopts Sadie's baby, a porcupine girl. She names her Untitled Princess Carolyn Project for the time being. *It is confirmed Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane has sex after the Philbert premier. **They do it a second time in this episode. **Instead of confessing the truth to Pickles, Mr Peanutbutter proposes to her. *Philbert is cancelled due to allegations against Henry Fondle forcing WhatTimeIsItRightNow.com to scale back to being a website that tells you what time is it. * The bag that BoJack brings with him when he checks into rehab is his "spy shit" bag from ''Yesterdayland'', but with the word "spy" crossed out and replaced with "rehab." *Flip wondering if he was Princess Carolyn the whole time is likely an allusion to Mr. Robot, which his voice actor Rami Malek stars in, where it is eventually revealed that Mr. Robot is not real and is an alternate personality/an imagination of the protagonist Elliot's dead father. *Biscuits Braxby references the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing when she says 1995 was a "Good year for Zinfandels. Bad year for Oklahoma federal buildings." *Tracy and Stuart are revealed to be long lost twins, as they have matching halves of a family medallion they’ve worn since childhood, but they do not catch on. MSNBSea Ticker Headlines *''"Black Panther slays at box office; film also a success"'' *''"Linkletter, Garfunkel enthusiasts open museum of fine arts"'' *''"Owner of blue Toyota Camry left lights on in MSNBSea parking lot"'' *''"U.S. military ends refugee crisis by bombing all refugees"'' *''"EPA CPA tapped for CVS CEO"'' Picket signs used by protesters outside the WhatTimeIsItRightNow building *''"No more Fondling for Fondle!!"'' * "Time out 4 fondle!!" *''"Time to clock out Fondle!!!"'' *''"No second chances!! Fire Fondle this minute!"'' *''"What Crime Is It Right Now??"'' *''"Watch you waiting for, WTIIRN?"'' *''"Fondle - your time is up!!"'' * "It's time for change" Intro Differences * The regular intro has been reinstated. * Gina no longer appears in BoJack's house. * Princess Carolyn and Diane are gone from the Philbert set. Category:Episodes Category:Season 5